Numbers 23
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh Speaks Through Balaam
23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 2 So Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill.
4 Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” 5 Then Yahweh (A)put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus.” 6 So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. 7 Then he took up his [a]discourse and said,
“From (B)Aram Balak has brought me,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the East,
‘(C)Come curse Jacob for me,
And come, denounce Israel!’
8 (D)How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?
9 For I see him from the top of the rocks,
And I look at him from the hills;
(E)Behold, a people who dwells alone,
And will not be reckoned among the nations.
10 (F)Who can number the dust of Jacob,
Or count the fourth part of Israel?
(G)Let [b]me die the death of the upright,
(H)And let my end be like his!”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? (I)I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have blessed them repeatedly!” 12 And he replied, “Must I not be careful to speak (J)what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Discourse
13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet Yahweh over there.” 16 Then Yahweh met Balaam and (K)put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 17 So he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?” 18 Then he took up his [c]discourse and said,
“Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
19 (L)God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
(M)Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;
(N)When He has blessed, then (O)I cannot revoke it.
21 (P)He has not observed [d]misfortune in Jacob;
(Q)Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
(R)Yahweh his God is with him,
(S)And the shout of a king is among them.
22 (T)God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the (U)horns of the wild ox.
23 (V)For there is no omen against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
24 (W)Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And as a lion it lifts itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘(X)Whatever Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the [e]wasteland. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 And Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:7 Lit parable
- Numbers 23:10 Lit my soul
- Numbers 23:18 Lit parable
- Numbers 23:21 Or wickedness
- Numbers 23:28 Or Jeshimon
Numbers 23
The Voice
23 Balaam (to Balak): This is what I need from you. Build seven altars here, and then get seven bulls and seven rams ready to sacrifice.
2 Balak did just as Balaam had asked him to do. Then together they offered a bull and a ram on each of the seven altars.
Balaam (to Balak): 3 You stay here, close to these burnt offerings. I’m going to go a little ways away, in case the Eternal wants to meet just with me. Whatever He lets me know, I’ll be sure to pass on to you.
So Balaam went over to an exposed area on the heights, 4 and God met Balaam there.
Balaam (to the Lord): I made seven altars and set an offering of a bull and a ram on each one.
Eternal One (giving Balaam the right words to say): 5 Go back to Balak and recite what I’ve told you.
6 So Balaam walked back down and over to where Balak stood waiting next to the burnt offerings, along with the officials of Moab. 7 Balaam recited His words.
Balaam: The king of Moab got me to come here, all the way from my home in Aram.
Balak summoned me from the eastern mountains.
“Come, curse Jacob for me!”
“Come, denounce Israel!”
8 But I ask you, how can I curse any whom God has not cursed
or denounce whomever the Eternal has not denounced?
9 Here on the heights, from the rocky places where I stand,
I can see them; from these hills I observe them below.
And what do I see but a unique and solitary people
who do not have a place among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or even a fourth of their number?
It’s impossible to count even one quarter of Israel.
Let me die as one who has done what is right.
Let my end be like his!
Balak (to Balaam): 11 What are you doing to me? I brought you all the way out here to curse these people—my enemies—yet what have you done? You’ve blessed them!
Balaam: 12 But don’t you agree that I have to be very careful to make sure I say only and exactly what the Eternal has given me to say?
Balak: 13 Well, come over here. Admittedly, from the place where I’m bringing you, you can only see a small part of that whole congregation. But I am commanding you: from this new place, curse them!
14 So Balak brought Balaam to the fields of Zophim, on the top of Pisgah’s peak. As before, he built there seven altars on which he sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
Pisgah dominates the Abarim Mountains and is thus used as a lookout to warn of possible attack.
Balaam (to Balak): 15 You stand here, by the altars with their burnt offerings, while I go just over there to talk with the Eternal One.
16 And once again, the Eternal met Balaam and gave him the words to say.
Eternal One: Go back to Balak, and recite what I’ve told you.
17 So Balaam returned to where Balak stood waiting next to the burnt offerings along with the Moabite officials.
Balak (to Balaam): What did the Eternal say?
18 And Balaam recited His words.
Balaam: Listen up, Balak, and attend to these words:
Hear, son of Zippor, what God has to say to you.
19 God is not a man—He doesn’t lie.
God isn’t the son of a man to want to take back what He’s said,
Or say something and not follow through,
or speak and not act on it.
20 Look here, I received a word of blessing,
and He has spoken a blessing.
I cannot take it back.
21 There is no vision of wrongdoing by Jacob;
God has seen no trouble for Israel.
The Eternal One abides among them;
and the shout of a king is among them.
22 God, who leads them out of Egypt,
His splendor is like the wild bull:
23 There is no divination against Jacob
or enchantment against Israel.
Soon, people will say of Jacob and Israel,
“Look at what God has accomplished!”
24 Look at this people rise up like a lion,
like a lion who gets up and does not lie down
until it devours its prey,
even drinking the blood of the slain.
Balak (to Balaam): 25 Don’t curse them, but don’t bless them either!
Balaam: 26 Haven’t you been listening? Whatever the Eternal tells me, I must do.
Balak: 27 I think we should try a different spot. Come on and maybe God will be happy to let you curse them for me from over there.
28 So off they went again. This time, Balak took the prophet to the top of Peor, from where they could look down over the whole broad spread of Jeshimon, which some call simply “the wasteland.”
Balaam (to Balak): 29-30 You know what to do: get the seven altars ready and burn the offerings, just as you did before.
And so Balak did—he built seven altars, on each of which were sacrificed a bull and a ram.
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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.